The United States today will announce the September PCE index, October Chicago PMI, and October Consumer Confidence Index. The US 10-year Treasury bond yield came to 1.605%. US stock futures fell on Friday (29th). Dow Jones futures fell 0.12%, S&P 500 futures fell 0.49%, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.88%.
1. Betting on the meta universe! Facebook changed its name to Meta
On Thursday (28th), the social media giant Facebook officially announced its name change to “Meta”, reflecting Facebook’s ambition to focus its operations on Metaverse.
After Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook in 2005, he announced at the 2021 Facebook Connect conference on Thursday that Facebook will be renamed Meta and its stock code will be changed from December 1. “FB” is changed to “MVRS”.
After the news of the rebranding of Facebook in the late trading of US stocks on Thursday, Facebook (FB-US) expanded its gains and reached an intraday high ($325.52). It ended with a red 1.51% to $316.92 per share.
2. Apple’s Q4 revenue is lower than expected, supply chain problems may become more severe by the end of the shopping season
On Tuesday (27th), Apple announced the fourth quarter financial report for fiscal year 2021 (ending 9/25). Revenue increased by 29% annually and reached a new high, but it fell short of market expectations and iPhone sales were also inferior. Chief Executive Tim Cook said that supply chain issues are more than originally thought, and it is estimated that the company will lose 6 billion US dollars, and the impact of the shopping season at the end of the year will be even greater. Apple fell 3.52% before the market on Friday.
Apple’s fourth-quarter revenue reached a record high, with an annual increase of 29% to 83.36 billion U.S. dollars, which was not as good as market expectations. Net profit grew by more than 60% to 20.55 billion U.S. dollars, equivalent to a profit per share of 1.24 U.S. dollars, in line with market expectations. Revenue for the full year of 2021 will grow 33% to reach US$366 billion.
This is the first time that Apple’s revenue has failed to exceed market expectations since May 2017. It is also the first time that EPS has not beaten market expectations since April 2016.
3. Amazon’s Q3 revenue is inferior
Amazon (AMN-US) announced on Thursday (28th) that the third quarter results of the 2021 fiscal year were lower than expected, and the key fourth quarter financial forecasts were disappointing. The stock price fell 4.48% before the market on Friday
Amazon predicts that the annual rate of revenue growth in the fourth quarter will range from 4% to 12%, or US$130 billion to US$140 billion, which is lower than analyst expectations. According to the FactSet survey, analysts expect a growth of 13.2% to 142.1 billion US dollars.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that due to labor shortages, rising staff costs, global supply chain restrictions, and increased freight and transportation costs, the consumer business in the fourth quarter will bear billions of dollars in additional costs. During the holiday season, Amazon is dealing with these challenges.
4. U.S. Steel’s Q3 revenue increased by 1.5 times annually
US Steel (X-US), a major steel producer, announced the third quarter financial report for the 2021 fiscal year after the market on Thursday (28th). Benefited from the economic restart and rising steel prices, revenue increased by 150% and announced that it would implement 3 100 million U.S. dollars of treasury stock repurchase.
David B. Burritt, Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Steel, said: “U.S. Steel’s balance sheet has been successfully transformed, and the cash flow of the business gives us confidence that we can invest in potential organic growth, which will expand our existing competitive advantage.”
In addition to the silver bullet for investment opportunities, U.S. Steel will also issue a cash dividend of US$0.05 and execute a share repurchase of US$300 million.
5. Starbucks Q4 revenue is not as good as expected
Starbucks announced its fourth-quarter financial report for the 2021 fiscal year on Thursday (28th). Due to rising costs and the decline in sales in China, its core overseas market, affected by the epidemic, its revenue performance fell short of analysts’ expectations.
Starbucks’ fourth-quarter revenue was US$8.1 billion, an annual increase of 31%, which was lower than analysts’ expectations of US$8.21 billion. Global same-store sales growth increased by 17% annually, lower than the 18.3% expected.
Starbucks’ US same-store sales grew by 22% in the fourth quarter and 11% in the past two years. The average customer spending increased by 3%. There were 24.8 million active members in the loyalty program, a 28% increase over the same period last year. In the fourth quarter 51% of customers are its reward members.
